The archbishop of St. Louis has taken issue with the Democrat’s stance on abortion.
BOSTON (AP) – Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry marked the Easter holiday at church Sunday. He ducked questions about violence in Iraq after several days spent speaking out about the situation there.

“Happy Easter,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters and photographers who waited for him outside the Paulist Center in the exclusive Beacon Hill section of Boston.

Aides said Kerry also would not comment on Saturday’s release of a presidential briefing document dated Aug. 6, 2001, that has fueled the debate over whether the Bush administration did enough to prevent terrorist attacks the following month that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Inside the packed church, Kerry joined other parishioners for Holy Communion. Some in the Roman Catholic faith have criticized Kerry for participating in the church rite because some of his political positions – he favors abortion rights and stem cell research – are at odds with church teachings.

Raymond Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis, has said he would not serve communion to Kerry because of the split from church teachings. But leaders of the Boston diocese, while critical of Kerry, have not imposed such a sanction against him.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, who is heading a bishops task force that is studying how to handle politicians who defy church doctrine, said, that as a Catholic, Kerry should follow church teachings.

But he also said he was leery of withholding sacraments from anyone.

“I think there are many of us who would feel that there are certain restrictions that we might put on people, that there are certain sanctions that we may put on people,” McCarrick said in a taped interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “But I think many of us would not like to use the Eucharist as part of the sanctions.”

Kerry had no other public appearances planned for the holiday, which he was spending at home with family.

—

On the Net:

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com.

AP-ES-04-11-04 1521EDT